Thursday, December 25, 2008

Is this gluten free?

Why, yes it is! My Key Lime Pie passed the holiday-with-wheat-eating-relatives test! It had been a year since I'd enjoyed a piece of pie for dessert. So I was probably the happiest about eating pie. But none of my relatives left even a crumb on their plate.

The crust was confusing part. I can't eat any packaged cookies, even the gluten free ones. And all the cookie recipes call for baking soda, which is off my list. So I decided to bake up some vanilla cookies without baking soda. I was just going to turn them into crumbs.

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla. Add eggs. Beat well. Blend in flour and salt. Roll into balls and flatten the balls slightly. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet at bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove when they just start to brown around the edges.

*Note: They were a little dense and my crumbs were a little big. Next time I'll try whipping two of the egg whites and folding them in last. I hope that will give me a lighter cookie.

Separate the eggs and put the yolks in the mixing bowl. Whip them until they are creamy light yellow. Add the lime juice and milk. Beat until it thickens. Pour into cooled pie shell. Bake for about ten minutes while you make meringue.

In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites until they are stiff. Add 6 T sugar. Beat until the sugar dissolves. Spread the meringue over the creamy layer of your pie. Be artistic! Bake another 10 minutes and remove pie when the meringue is nicely browned. Let the pie cool at room temperature for a couple of hours before refrigerating.

My mom made these polar bears to decorate her yard for Christmas. The bears entertained neighbors and passersby, and their photo appeared in our local newspaper. They are constructed of papier mache and painted with exterior latex (house paint.) They are nearly weather-proof. One of the bears was seen wearing a plastic bag over his head during a recent rainstorm. Thankfully, the paparazzi missed that moment.

Welcome home, Cousin Kathy! Missed you! She's on the right. I'm on the left. As you can see, my side of the family is "cheekier" than Kathy's side. My puke green sweater with fur collar was maybe the second bold fashion statement I've made in my whole life. I wore it all day and all night on Christmas Eve. I attended three different Christmas celebrations that day. Christmas Eve is my birthday, and it was a really happy one! Who needs birthday cake when there's Key Lime Pie?!

14 comments:

Merry Christmas Kay! Your mom is a great artist, I love those polar bears. And I love the bare lawn. Ours has a foot of snow with a lovely ice crust!

Thanks for the nice comments about Martha. She is a sweet dog who has a few issues left over from an abusive pre-shelter life, but we deal with them (like when she wants to eat all our guests when they first enter the house).

Lucky you to receive "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" for Christmas. Great book. I want to make my own cheese after reading it, but so far have been too lazy to seek out the required ingredients.

Wow, cool polar bears! Kay, you can't make a bold fashion statement and then refer to your sweater as "puke green." LOL I agree you looked great, plus the green sweater went with the key lime pie. ;-) And, kudos on achieving that culinary delight! And, belated happy birthday! (My son was due on Christmas Eve, but did not make his appearance until Jan. 2. On his BD, he will be 21! I feel old. LOL)

I've been so busy lately that I've missed stopping by. I just spent the past half hour catching up on what you've been up to. Love the polar bears. Wow, your mom is talented! And your pie looks delicious. I made some key lime bars that have similar ingredients. Can you eat GF graham crackers? I've made them before out of teff and some other ingredients, but they're a bit of a pain to make. We have a wonderful bakery here that makes GF graham crackers so I use those for the crust. I'll send you the recipe if you want. They're not all that healthy, but they're always a hit with everyone -- GF or not.

Regarding the 21-year olds, well, you see it's the "self-sufficient" part that's the clinker.

How do you make your own baking soda and baking powder? I have a friend and member of our group who is on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and she can have baking soda, but not baking powder. I know you can make baking powder from baking soda and cream of tartar, but she can't have cream of tartar either.

I can't have cream of tartar either. I can make lame cookies without using soda or powder. But so far I am cake-less.

The function of cream of tartar in baking powder is to slow the rising process. Vinegar serves that purpose in gluten free yeast bread recipes. Maybe a little vinegar would work with baking soda recipes. But maybe not. I remember making science fair volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar. I think adding them separately would be a good idea.

I have some excellent cookie recipes that don't call for any of those things. I can share if you like.

Regarding cake recipes, the flourless ones would work, like a flourless chocolate cake one (very rich ... only make for a crowd so you don't feel obliged to eat it all, although you'd definitely want to). I will be on the lookout for others in my repertoire for you.

Last, but not least, I just read that chia flour can be substituted for xanthan gum. Now I am not sure where you can get that, but it's good to know.

Yes, taking the place of xanthan gum, the chia flour would be used as a binder. Since usually only a small amount of xanthan gum is used, I don't see why you couldn't use your mortar and pestle to grind your own. BTW, chia seeds have been getting high ratings for their nutritional value lately. Check out this article: http://www.naturalnews.com/024955.html

Hmmm, maybe I better wait on sending any recipes until I refresh myself on your no-no list. One of the cookie recipes had chocolate so that's out. How about oatmeal (GF, of course)? I'll go back and look at one of your posts on this topic before I send any on.

Kay - I had such a nice time visiting over Christmas. Thank you for making me feel so welcome. I was excited to see your key lime pie recipe online. Can't wait to share it with my friend who can't have gluten. Happy New Year! Maureen

Kay - Thanks for being such a wonderful host! I had a great time in Indy and really appreciate being able to stay with you. I was excited to see your yummy key lime pie recipe online - I'm sending it to my friend Shari so she can enjoy pie again. Happy New Year! Maureen

Look! It's the New Me! Don't I look happy? I am! I started a gluten free, corn free, soy free, gum free, pineapple free, banana free, cabbage free, broccoli free, legume free life January 1, 2008. It was confusing at first, but I'm getting the hang of it. My health has improved. I want to get strong enough to be the token geezer on "Survivor."